About.com Rating

Denizen of danceable darkness, adult-entertainment flicks and Gold's Gym, the buffed Mitch Branson showcases his wares as the music producer with his first CD Darkness Of Pleasure [Tulo Productions].  It's a sometimes-erotic album that can be described by the categories coined as goth house, dark house, dark dance and even Halloween house.  How's that for some creative alliteration? [LOL] The album is intentionally full of potential spooky drama and video hook-ups.


"Intoxicating Sonari" is the funkiest of them all, and is a good launch into Mitch's brand of musical allure. The best tracks are number three's "Should I Fall In Love Again?" where Amanda Dieck of the Bay Area group The Elements probingly yet sensually shines, and number five, "What Can You Do?" where Marika evokes the sound of vintage '90s Brandy, Mya or Monica hip hop/R&B over Bransoní's scary soundtrack.  The next anthem, "Roller Coasters of the Haunted House" really unleashes the loathing, and sets the mysterious and ghoulishly fun tone for the rest of the CD.  Have your toys ready, kiddies!

"Souls Of The Unsaved" (or unshaved?) could be the soundtrack of a Frankenstein-style monster movie, while we have arias going on inside "Secrets of the House" and "Druid Enchantment," which must be opera house music The beat's just plain bold while the oscillating  "Inia's Dirty Secret" (the MB Club version), reminds me of Technotronic's 1989 hit "Pump Up The Jam." So DJs, find that vinyl and mix it IN!

Orgasmic and organic, "Darkness" is a good musical replacement to my favorite bygone HBO series, "Tales From The Crypt" if your imagination is fertile and memory keen.  It will be very interesting to hear what Denizen comes up with next, should his fiendish fetish focus remain on frightful acoustic fusion. Like whoa!

For production values as well as culled creativity that sounds familiar, yet in reality, is fresh, a buff four stars.

Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.